Police in South Florida target uninsured drivers

According to the Insurance Research Council, close to 24 percent of Florida drivers do not have valid insurance. This puts Florida among the five states with the highest proportion of uninsured drivers and helps account for the $1,476 in average car insurance payments Florida residents are forced to pay each year. The prevalence of uninsured motorists also prompted hundreds of police departments across South Florida to crack down on both motorists with fake insurance cards and those without any sign of insurance at all.

Uninsured drivers pose a serious threat to those they share the road with. If an uninsured motorist causes a car accident in which another person is injured, he or she has no insurance policy to cover the victim's medical bills, forcing the victim to shoulder those expenses. "It's bad enough to be involved in a vehicle crash," explained a sheriff involved in the operation, "but then to have to deal with the other driver not having insurance makes it worse." Florida residents who have been hurt in an accident with an uninsured driver should contact a qualified attorney to learn more about their legal options.

The officers who took part in the crackdown on uninsured drivers resulted in a number of citations, with police in Broward county arresting three people for reportedly possessing fraudulent insurance cards. Drivers accused of driving on fake insurance papers in Florida can face a third-degree felony and five years in prison. Those arrested during the crackdown were detained in jail and had their cars towed.

Normally, police suffer from an inability to verify a driver's insurance details during a traffic stop. To help solve this problem, agents from around 20 insurance firms assisted in the crackdown, taking calls from officers and running checks on each driver stopped to determine the validity of his or her insurance information.

Source: Sun-Sentinel, "South Florida cracks down on uninsured motorists," Ihosvani Rodriguez, Oct. 9, 2012